BP oil clean-up bill tops £230m

Oil giant BP has said clean-up costs from the huge spill in the Gulf of Mexico had reached 350 million dollars (£234 million).

Since the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank on April 20 - killing 11 workers - around 3.6 million gallons of oil have flooded into the ocean, threatening an environmental catastrophe.

The company has spent around 100 million dollars (£67 million) so far on a relief well being drilled to meet the leaking well at around 13,000 feet below the seabed and cut off the flow of oil, but this is set to take three months to complete.

The group has also made grants to the affected states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida - as well as paying out for costs such as liquid dispersant for the oil.

BP is attempting to place a huge containment canopy over the main leak point on the seabed although it was forced to suspend this over the weekend due to a build up of gas blocking its pipes.

The company is currently working on a smaller dome to collect the oil but admits there are "significant uncertainties" over the techniques, which are being carried out on the seabed and have never been tested at depths of 5,000 feet.

On the surface meanwhile the group has laid out more than a million feet of containment booms and is employing a fleet of 275 vessels in the clean-up operation.